Puppet
by ImmortalCoelacanth
Summary: "With this you can go back to before she left, and offer her some extra challenges on her travels. You will enter several contracts with her in order to complete these challenges, but the risk of death will be very high, and if she fails..." The blue skinned figure chuckled, fangs flashing in the warm lighting. "You can take her soul."
1. An Unwilling Puppet

**AN: I KEEP WRITING ONESHOTS FOR THIS GAME AND I'M SORRY I KEEP DOING THIS BUT MY MUSE DEMANDS I WRITE!**

 **My idea for a possible plot twist for the Death Wish DLC is that Moonjumper is actually controlling Snatcher because he wants Hat Kid's soul for some reason, and then this story was born.**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Leave me alone you blue skinned freak!"

" _Oh hush my little puppet, it will all be over soon."_

The masculine voice that cooed those words softly into the shadow's mind sounded warm and comforting when it reality it was the total opposite. In seconds that calm voice could become enraged and verbally lash out at him just like it had done before.

"Shut it!" He snarled, hands clutching the sides of his head as he thrashed about in his home.

The interior of the tree had changed quite a bit since he had first started hearing the intruding voice. The walls were now coated in grooves, marks from his talons when he had lashed out to try and regain control in his mind, and all of the furniture had been destroyed. A powerful purple barrier completely obscured the outside world from view, sealing everything within the tree inside with no escape.

He had spent the past several days here, trapped in his home as he tried to get rid of the entity that was trying to take over his mind.

A demon trying to possess a demon, how redundant.

A smiling blue face appeared in front of his own, deadly fangs poking out of its mouth as it grinned mercilessly at him. Its mismatched red eyes, one filled with diamonds, innocently looked at him, as if it had not been tormenting him for several days without end.

In all actuality the creature did not appear to be that menacing with its torn red coat and gangly arms, but he soon learned that the naive appearance was merely a front to get him to lower his defenses.

It, _he_ , was malicious, and wanted something from the hat brat, something that needed his cooperation in order to be gained.

Not that he would ever help the annoying bastard.

" _Come now Snatcher, surely we can work together on this."_ The figure cooed once again, that damned smile still stretched across his face.

"I ain't interested in your plans _Moonboy_!" The shadow spat.

The figure floating in front of him frowned. _"It is Moon_ jumper _, and besides, I know you want to see her again."_

"The kiddo's gone and she's not coming back!" The words stung but Snatcher knew they were the truth.

The hatted child had no reason to return to this planet. Just about everyone she had met had tried to kill her at some point, and even if she did try to come back he had no idea how far away her home was, how many years or decades it would take to travel between the two locations.

Moonjumper sighed and floated off to the side, chains on his wrists rattling as he brought his hands up to his chest. _"Oh poor Snatcher, so alone once again, abandoned by the one he grew to care about-"_

"SHUT IT!" The shadow roared, dragging his talons through the laughing incorporeal form in front of him.

" _She gave you a taste of what it was like to be treated like you used to be, and now you want that back."_ The figure teased, smirking at the tormented shadow.

The words were toxic, poisonous, and oh so sweet as they floated through his mind. Another growl escaped him, but this one was not as loud as the others. Moonjumper had caught his attention and he was curious as to what his point was.

"What're you talking about, Moonboy?" Moonjumper twitched at the name but refused to rise to the bait.

" _Snatcher you have always been treated differently due to your status, even in death, but that child reminded you of what your life used to be like before you met_ her _, and you miss that. A void has opened up in you, and now you want nothing more than for those friendly interactions to happen once again, but that is alright."_

Moonjumper paused and shifted so he was floating in front of Snatcher once again. His glowing red eyes caught the shadow's, and held his gaze as he spoke.

" _I can make her return."_

That certainly caught his attention.

"What?" Snatcher wheezed, eyes wide as he took in the growing smile on Moonjumper's face.

Instead of speaking the grinning figure held a hand out and he watched as glowing red magic gathered in it. The energy clustered together and began to take on a very familiar shape. In almost no time at all a glowing Time Piece was held in Moonjumper's hand.

But this Time Piece was far different from the ones the shadow had previously seen. The glass was a dark, murky red instead of the gentle blue, and the light it was emitting was a strange shade of grey. The wooden pieces were also worn and appeared to be somewhat rotten.

Overall it looked like a cheap replica, but there was something about the energy he could sense coming off of it that made him nervous.

It felt... _wrong_.

" _With this you can go back to before she left, and offer her some extra challenges on her travels. You will enter several contracts with her in order to complete these challenges, but the risk of death will be very high, and if she fails..."_

Moonjumper chuckled, cheerful tone gone and replaced with one that was coated with malice. _"You can take her soul."_

The shadow's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, stunned by the floating figure's plan.

" _All we have to do is work together, and she'll be here for all eternity, and you'll never have to be alone again."_

Snatcher paused and thought about his options. While it would certainly be nice to see the kiddo again, everything about Moonjumper's plan felt wrong and he had a feeling that the hatted child would not be happy about his decision in the slightest.

In the end the choice the shadow made was an obvious one.

"No."

Moonjumper's face twitched and his hands clenched at his sides in aggravation. He opened his mouth to speak but the shadow interrupted him, more than happy to explain his reasoning.

"Yes, it would be great to have the kiddo around again and it was nice to be treated like an actual person and not a _boss_ or a _demon_ , but she wouldn't be _happy_."

The only thing worse than having the hat brat tease him for all eternity would be watching her mope and be sad. That was a torturous fate Snatcher was certain he would not be able to handle.

"So _Moonboy_ , I think it's time for you to get the heck out of my forest before I do something unsightly!"

With that Snatcher folded his arms and glared at his tormentor and _dared_ him to do something else.

Suddenly a laugh escaped the floating figure, and then another and another until his maddening cackles rang through the air. The shadow did his best to back up from the clearly insane Moonjumper, but quickly found himself pinned against the wall of his home, red strings holding him in place.

He struggled and thrashed, curses escaping him as he found that his bindings only grew stronger the more he moved. In seconds the shadow was trapped and at the demonic creature's mercy.

Moonjumper looked at him, red eyes shining with an unearthly energy, and smiled.

" _You_ _ **fool**_ _."_

And with that he lunged.

Thin hands pressed into the shadow's arms, further pinning him in place as Moonjumper's eyes stared deeply into his panicked yellow ones. Suddenly it seemed as those the glow spread to the red markings that covered the figure's face, and Snatcher found himself hypnotized by the strange phenomenon.

It looked... so pretty...

This distraction proved to be the shadow's downfall as, without his notice, the strings that had been holding his body still shifted until they were in the position Moonjumper wanted them to be in, and then they struck!

The red strings seared themselves into Snatcher's ghostly flesh, sinking into his soul and filling his mind with agony. He wailed and squirmed but nothing could relieve the crippling pain that had taken over his body.

This torture seemed to last for an eternity to the shadow when only several seconds had passed before it was complete. The strings were now imperceptible to all but their creator and served as the perfect method to control some of Moonjumper's more, _unruly_ puppets.

The floating figure backed away and watched as Snatcher collapsed to the floor. It would take a couple moments for the paralyzing effect of his hypnosis to wear off, so he waited.

On top of imposing his mental will upon his newest puppet, he had also granted the shadow some of his powers in order to help make the challenges a bit more difficult for the hatted child.

Finally Snatcher groaned and pushed himself off of the floor. He floated upwards and his hazy yellow eyes met Moonjumper's glowing red ones.

" _You know what you must do, my puppet, and I trust that you shall not fail."_

The hypnotized Snatcher nodded, making the figure smirk.

Moonjumper chuckled once more, already see though body fading even more as he looked over his newest servant. His goal had been completed and now all he had to do was wait for Snatcher to take the child's soul.

Just before he faded from view a final, whispered command danced through the air.

" _Now, my puppet, let the games begin."_

And with that he was gone, and Snatcher was all alone.

The shadow flexed his talons and watched as string of glowing blue energy appeared. He reached out and the strips of light lashed out at his surroundings, further damaging the walls and even tearing apart one of his books, not that the controlled being cared about that at this moment.

No, he had a goal to accomplish and a soul to snatch.

 _No, I don't want her soul anymore!_

The corrupted Time Piece appeared in his hand, the murky glow lighting up his face. He smirked and watched as the world around him rewound, the stars and moon moving in reverse about him. After the barriers created by the Fire Spirits fully reappeared he stopped and looked up to the sky, waiting to see the telltale sign that the alien had arrived.

 _Don't do this you idiot! You're being controlled!_

 _I'm being controlled!_

Snatcher easily noticed the several Time Pieces that fell from the heavens, landing in various parts of the forest and planet. He chuckled and sent out a message to his minions, ordering them to collect the hourglasses and place them in certain locations, focused on setting up as many of the challenges as he could for Hat Kid.

 _Hey, those are MY minions! They belong to ME! Stop bossing them around Moonbrat!_

He knew the kiddo would spend some time in Mafia Town so he had to get to her spaceship quickly so she could sign his newest contract and seal her fate.

 _I don't want this, someone stop me!_

Faint red strings appeared around the shadow once more, encircling his frame. They faded from view as he floated up towards where he could recall Hat Kid's ship being, contract in hand and a menacing smirk on his face.

 _Please..._

Meanwhile back on the forest floor Moonjumper peered out from behind one of the trees, looking up at where his newest puppet was. He was more than happy to see that Snatcher was entirely focused on completing his task and not rebelling against his control like he originally thought the shadow would.

Indeed, it had been oddly simple to bend the shadow's soul to his will, and something Moonjumper hoped would not work against him later.

"Did I perform well, Master?"

The sudden voice was laced with an artificial overtone that made the speaker sound unnaturally calm, but there was a certain eagerness to it, something that made the speaker sound like he was begging for approval.

Moonjumper spun around and smiled once he caught sight of one of his most faithful puppets, the Badge Seller. The mysterious creature had worked for him for decades, spying on new worlds and helping him gain more power across the universe. Unfortunately this has caused the decay of his physical form, but it was a sacrifice his puppet happily made in order to serve his Master.

Moonjumper purred and floated over to the glitching figure, reaching out to place a hand atop his head in a soothing manner.

" _You did very good, my puppet."_ He cooed. _"Once more you astonish me with your commitment to my cause."_

The Badge Seller twitched, leaning into the touch as fragments of his body spun out of control. He could not remember a time where he had not been controlled by the floating figure, for all of his life he had worked to help his Master, and he could continue to help him until his body gave out.

" _Now all we have to do is wait for the child to fail, and then the Time Pieces will be_ _ **mine**_ _."_

Moonjumper smirked, watching as strands of blue energy rained down from the sky and connected with every living being in the forest, controlling them much in the same way that his own red strings of magic did. It seemed as though Hat Kid signed the contract already, most likely understanding what was going on right away, and excitement raced through the gleeful creature.

Soon his plans would come to fruition and he would _finally_ get his revenge on those who had wronged him centuries ago.

" _And I will control reality."_

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **AN: I highly doubt Moonjumper will show up in this DLC, but I thought this would be an interesting take on what we've seen so far, so yeah! Also I made him really menacing like holy heck me...**

 **Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed!**

 **\- ImmortalCoelacanth**


	2. A Wish for Death

**AN: GUESS WHO TURNED THIS INTO A SHORT STORY?**

 **My mind kept coming back to this idea so I knew I had to write more for it!**

 **Hat Kid encounters Snatcher and deal is sealed.**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Hat Kid knew the moment time rewound that something strange had happened on the planet she had made several new friends on. She had been so close to reaching her home, the blue and green sphere had been in view when suddenly she found herself falling through space once again, Time Pieces plummeting down beside her.

"What happened?" She wondered, voice echoing through the silent cosmos around her, but naturally nothing answered her question.

Moments later she landed on the planet in the exact same manner she had before, Mafia crashing down beside her. The alley stank just as it first did, noxious fumes rising off of the mounds of trash, making the disgruntled child crinkle her nose.

Well, it was clear to her that she had no choice but to keep moving forward and hope she found whatever caused time to be rewound in the first place.

With that Hat Kid set off, following the exact same path she had when she first landed on this planet. Granted this time she avoided giving one of the Mafia a high five, easily recalling when she had been tricked and gotten punched in the face.

This provided her with the chance to see that none of the Mafia or Mustache Girl had been involved in whatever caused time to be rewound. Typically those in contact with a Time Piece would be able to exactly remember what had happened while others would be left with a vague sense of déjà vu, unable to pinpoint _exactly_ what had happened.

Unfortunately this meant Hat Kid still had no idea who had caused this mess, but at least she could be certain that it was no one in Mafia Town. However that meant the birds or Snatcher might be the reason why time had been messed with...

Once she collected her first Time Piece, _again_ , the child found herself rocketing back up into the sky towards her spaceship. She knew the best course of action would be to reach the other areas, Dead Bird Studio and Subcon Forest as soon as possible. She highly doubted anyone in the Alpine Skyline had messed with time, especially considering that whole mess with the purple flowers, so she did not feel much of a need to check there.

Snatcher and the Conductor had both shown signs of nearly being corrupted by the Time Pieces they had, but she had also taken all of the Time Pieces away so there had been none left on the planet.

Time could only be rewound using a _Time Piece_ , not lingering corruption!

Ugh, this mess was such a... _mess!_

The moment she entered her ship the child marched up to her fuel vault and tossed the Time Piece into it, watching happily as the power was restored. However, there was something different from back when she had first visited her ship after falling to the planet. Originally all of the rooms had been sealed off except for the kitchen, since there had not been enough power to properly provide lighting and oxygen support. It was only as she gained more Time Pieces, and more power, that other rooms were opened.

But this time her bedroom door was unlocked.

And the Badge Seller had appeared in the hub of her ship near her TV.

Hat Kid's jaw dropped.

"Hello there, young one. It seems as though something quite strange has happened." The glitched vendor greeted, waving at the stunned child.

"Badge Seller, what're you doing here?" She asked, making her way over to the mysterious figure that had been extremely helpful on her quest to gather the Time Pieces.

"I felt time rewind." He replied, face twisting and turning as his eyes flashed with their eerie lights. "The very foundation of reality moved backwards, but I remained aware of it because of my damage."

Hat Kid winced. There was no denying how creepy his appearance was, but he was super nice and that made it significantly easier to talk to him.

"I knew that the best course of action would be to find you." He continued. "However it seems as though you also do not know what caused this change."

"Yeah, something _weird_ is going on here." Hat Kid muttered, glancing over at her bedroom door.

The Badge Seller followed her gaze and let out a thoughtful hum. "Perhaps it would be best to investigate such oddities and see if they might lead you to the cause."

The child blinked. That, was actually a _really_ good idea!

"Uh, I guess I'll check out my room then." She looked at the door once more and tried to ignore the foreboding feeling that rose up in her chest.

"I shall be here if you need any extra help or require badges, child." He added, eyes flashing once again.

Hat Kid smiled, nodded in response, and then made her way into the accessible room.

There was nothing that could prepare her for the sight she encountered the moment she entered her lit up bedroom. She had expected some sort of temporal mess or an enraged monster from outside of reality, but the sight in front of her resembled nothing she had imagined.

In front of her sat Snatcher, reading a book.

Her jaw dropped, again.

"Hey there kiddo, nice seeing you here." The shadow greeted from his new seat at the top of her pool of pillows. "What brings you to my new office?"

She sputtered and wheezed, uncertain of how exactly to respond to his question. Normally she would try to tease him but this situation was so bizarre she was left speechless and stunned. So instead of speaking she just walked up towards him, heart pounding and mind swimming.

 _Why_ was he _here_? And _why_ did he look so... _relaxed?_

When she had spoken to the Mafia and even Mustache Girl, they had all seemed slight distressed when they realized they could faintly recall who she was, despite never meeting her in this timeline.

Mustache Girl had been especially upset considering she did not have any friends yet she _knew_ Hat Kid had been her friend at some point.

It had taken quite some time to help her calm down.

Once Hat Kid got closer to the shadow it was easy to notice that something did not seem right about her ghostly best friend. His right eye twitched every so often, and his talons convulsed when she approached him.

Even the familiar trickster smile on his face was tense and looked fake!

But the worst, and most damming thing of all, was the light purple glow that now encompassed his body, the same glow that had surrounded Mustache Girl during their fight.

 _Time Piece corruption._

Which meant _Snatcher_ had been what caused time to get rewound.

But she did not understand _why_. When she had first fought Snatcher he did not seem concerned with the power the Time Pieces had, it looked like he just wanted to keep them because they landed in his forest and had "become his property".

So _why_ would he rewind time when he never wanted that in the first place, and where the heck did he get a Time Piece from?!

She had so many questions, and no answers.

"Well since you're here kid I have another contract you might be _interested_ in signing." _That_ caught Hat Kid's attention.

"A new contract?" She asked, walking up to the eerily calm shadow so she was now standing beside him.

Snatcher chuckled.

"Yup, a brand new one for your _new_ journey. I think you'll enjoy it." With that he summoned a familiar sheet of paper and passed it over to the child, smiling the entire time.

 _He looks so creepy now..._

She cautiously took the page and scanned it over. Immediately she noticed that it involved her completing "challenges" to receive amazing rewards, like new hats and stuff. However apparently if she died Snatcher would get to keep her soul for the rest of eternity.

Well, that sounded foreboding.

"I'll tell you about each challenge whenever you start looking for your Time Pieces." The shadow added. "And when you complete them you'll get all sorts of goodies-"

"But I don't care about stuff like that!" Hat Kid interrupted. "I just want to know what happened!"

 _To both time and him._

"Alright, alright." Snatcher muttered. " _After_ you complete the contract I'll tell you what you want to know, okay?"

She nodded and signed the paper, but was far from satisfied. Of course at this point every part of her was screaming to run away for the out of character shadow, but she was too concerned to listen.

She _needed_ to make sure he was alright!

"Snatcher," Hat Kid began, looking up at her best friend with wide, concerned eyes. "Are you okay?"

The shadow twitched and the book fell from his hands, disappearing into the pile of pillows. The smile that had been plastered on his face seemed to convulse, shifting into a frown as he turned to look at her. A single, ghostly hand reached out towards her shoulder, shuddering the entire time.

Vulnerability opened up in his yellow eyes, _fear_ clearly displayed in them!

And then it was gone.

"I'm _fine_!" Snatcher viciously hissed, shoving Hat Kid back and nearly making the scared child fall over. "Now how about _you_ get started on _your_ contract!"

The hatted child had to blink away the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Sure Snatcher had been mean before, but this was a whole new level of being a _jerk_ , and then there was that fear she had seen with all the weird twitching.

Something else was going on here, something that involved Snatcher, now she just had to figure out exactly what it was...

However he did have a point, the sooner she completed all of the challenges the sooner she would learn what had caused time to get rewound, and how the shadow had done it. So she slowly made her way back over to the entrance of her room, but before she left she paused.

"I'll be back Snatcher." Hat Kid said, glancing back to the shadow who was now stubbornly looking out the window into space.

When he did not respond she sighed and left, door closing silently behind her.

" _Oh my puppet, why do you fight?"_ That damned voice whispered, words so sultry and sweet once the owner was certain the child was no longer nearby.

" _Have you not realized how futile it is yet?"_

The red strings around Snatcher's body appeared once more, tightening their grip on the hypnotized, but still struggling to break free, shadow.

" _You cannot save her."_ Moonjumper breathed. _"She will die and her soul will be mine."_

For a single moment Snatcher's eyes flashed and he looked away from the window, that familiar smirk finally reappearing on his face.

"If you think that Moonbrat," He wheezed, desperately trying to regain control of his body. "Then you don't know the kiddo like I do!"

Moonjumper snarled, his strings lashing out once more to control his insubordinate puppet. Finally Snatcher's will began to fade, body and soul falling back under the mysterious puppeteer's control once again.

Worry briefly filled Moonjumper, his puppet had managed to break free of his control which meant he could do it again, but he ignored his fears and focused back on the task at hand.

He did not need the shadow to be completely under his control, just enough so he could fight Hat Kid once and be there to collect the child's soul when she died.

Besides, surely that had just been a fluke, there was no way his puppet was strong enough to break through his control once more.

 _You better watch out Moonbrat. When I get my body back you'll be_ sorry _!_

 _Unless the kid beats the crap out of you first!_

Meanwhile, the Badge Seller had warped himself back down to the planet, more than aware of the path the child would take while she tried to complete her newest contract. Now all that was left to do was wait for the hatted child to perish, and if she found certain challenges to be a bit _too_ easy...

Well, he could _always_ throw in an obstacle here or there to make it just a bit tougher.

He would do _whatever_ was needed to make sure his Master's plan succeeded, not matter how terrible it would be.

Perhaps it would be best if he suddenly "lost" that Hover Badge the child relied on so much...

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **AN: I'm not going to write out the individual challenges because that would be boring. I'll probably mentions snippets of the boss fights in the next chapter though.**

 **Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed, please leave me a review telling me what you think, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


End file.
